Vitus Bering
(Behring)
1681–1741
Vitus Bering was a Danish navigator in the Russian Navy and the first European
to discover Alaska and its surrounding islands. The Bering Strait is among
several northern landmarks that earned their name from the explorer’s extensive
voyages along the Russian coast.
Bering joined the Russian Navy in 1703 and took part in both the Great Northern
War and the Russo-Turkish War. Ten years after his final return home, he was
commissioned by Peter I of Russia to lead an expedition to map the length of the
Siberian coast. Peter hoped to determine whether the continents of Asia and
America were the same landmass. Bering set out from the Kamchatka Peninsula in
1728 and sailed northward through the strait that now bears his name. Observing
that the Russian coast scaled westward with no land in the North, Bering
returned to his starting point, believing he had fulfilled his mission. While
in Kamchatka, however, he noticed signs of lands to the East, but poor weather
forced him to return instead to St. Petersburg. After receiving a reward for
his discoveries, Bering immediately proposed a second, more thorough,
exploration of the same area. By 1740, he had established a settlement in
Kamchatka and sailed eastward toward North America. After being separated from
his companions during a storm, Bering glimpsed the southern coast of Alaska, and
he docked at Kayak Island to better investigate his discovery. In what is today
known as the Great Northern Expedition, Bering and his partner Chirikov
extensively explored the northwestern coast of America. After adverse weather
forced him to turn for home, Bering discovered more uninhabited land, the
Aleutian Islands. The explorer soon fell ill and passed away on one of the
islands, named Bering Island in his honor. Though he did not realize it at the
time, Bering was the first to pass between Asia and America and thus prove them
separate continents.
Key events during the life of Vitus Bering:
| Year |
Event |
| 1681 |
Born |
| 1703 |
Joined the Russian Navy |
| 1710 |
Took part in the Russo-Turkish War |
| 1725 |
Peter I of Russia asked Bering to command an expedition to find the furthest reaches of Siberia |
| 1728 |
Set out on his first expedition and discovered several land masses East of Russia |
| 1731 |
Received a reward for his discoveries; proposed a second expedition |
| 1740 |
Established a settlement in Kamchatka |
| 1741 |
Led an expedition to North America and discovered Alaska |
| 1741 |
Died on Bering Island, in Russia |
Other Resources
| Contemporary |
Short Biography |
| Peter the Great |
Modernized Russia in spite of great resistance. Improved the army. Won coastal territory. |
| Rene La Salle |
Dauntless adventurer who followed the Mississippi to its mouth, and claimed all for France. |
| Frederick the Great |
Great Prussian military leader in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years War. |